Mr Hockey told friends who gathered at the North Sydney Oval book launch on Thursday that the release date was not of his choosing. He said he had agreed to take part more than a year ago, when in Opposition.

‘‘I took advice from Tony Abbott and a number of other people and decided to co-operate,’’ he said.

And that business about the budget being softer than he would have liked?

‘‘My job is to prosecute the case. Commentators want to have it both ways; on the one hand they said ‘Joe didn’t have the ticker to do what needs to be done’ and when Joe is part of a team that lays down what needs to be done, they say otherwise,'' Mr Hockey said.

Mr Hockey thought the book’s critics were disappointed by its revelation that he and Mr Abbott were very close, a ‘‘welcome change in a relationship between a treasurer and a prime minister’’.

But as to Hockey, PM? ‘‘We’ll leave that to destiny.’’

None of Mr Hockey’s federal colleagues attended the book launch.

A cabinet meeting in Canberra and a remembrance service took precedence. He said some were overseas.

However, the Hockey club at North Sydney included Nick and Kathryn Greiner, John Fahey, Peter Collins, Bruce Baird, Don Harwin, Gladys Berejiklian, George Souris, Peter Coleman, Andrew Denton and Jennifer Byrne.

Another Fairfax columnist, Peter FitzSimons, who is a close friend of Mr Hockey, launched the book.

Their families often dine together on Sunday nights. FitzSimons' wife, the Nine Network Today program co-host Lisa Wilkinson, acted as compere.

King received the biggest laugh when noting that her book recorded Mr Hockey’s desire to enter hospital for stomach surgery under the pseudonym Dirk Diggler (the name of Mark Wahlberg’s porn star character in the 1997 film Boogie Nights).

The doctors knew best, and he was admitted as Joe Little.

‘‘And that’s unlikely to help negotiations with Jacqui Lambie,’’ Ms King said.